Quite often the need arises for placement of items in, retrieval of items from and manipulation of items within difficult to access locations and/or dangerous locations. Examples of such locations include fields of debris, underground cavities, pipes of systems, etc. Accordingly, in some cases, the physical location is the primary cause for such danger while in other cases it is the item being manipulated that is the primary cause for such danger.
Conventional approaches for such placement, retrieval and/or manipulation expose the item, the person and/or access equipment to a potentially dangerous situation. Additionally, such conventional approaches are sometimes limiting in that they do not provide sufficient equipment power (e.g., hydraulic power) at required distant locations. For example, some applications may require a magnitude of grasping force that is better achievable via hydraulic actuation as opposed to electrical actuation.
Therefore, a remotely controlled rover system that overcomes limitations and drawbacks associated with conventional rover systems and approaches for remotely facilitating placement, retrieval and/or manipulation of items would be useful, advantageous and novel.